"When I built mine I rigged up a jig with wood scraps to hold the island. An upright piece that would fit inside the carcass of the island attached to a base so I could set it down while I worked on it. I think it would be extremely hard to work on the details if it was attached to the fight deck..." -Capt652
"I usually put the "heavy" stuff on the deck and leave the more fragile stuff off until later, so in my case I'd put the island on and leave the last off until final fitting..."
That's one of the things I like about this game, there are no set rules. Everyone has their own way of geting from point A to point B, and as I have continued modeling I have found that I might like the way one guy does one thing but then like the way somebody else does something else better. I guess part of growing as a modeler is finding techniques that suit you and perfecting them.
In this case, I don't know. I remember how hard it was doing detailing on the 1/350 Missouri, picking it up, rotating it, hitting it on stuff. Trying to get in tight spots that are two feet away with potential disaster spanning the distance. I've got a better set up now and can more easily move around the model, but I see an advantage of having the small island mounted to something firm for ease of access. However, the sooner the island is mounted, the sooner I can complete the wiring for the lights. I've gone back and forth on it numerous times, but I think I'm leaning to mounting it on something firm and basically think of them as two seperate models, to be joined at the very end.
And
Capt652 for the flag advice. I was thinking of laying them out like you said, but I didn't think about the verticality of the halyard being important. I guess with the relative weights involved this makes sense if one thinks of the physics involved. And I am planning on using white slide off decals, so I appreciate the setting solution advice.
Once again,
THANKS GUYS!!